Tsutaeru to Kangamiru
by QianYun
Summary: Chibi Sasuke is unable to do something his family calls easy. He is frustrated. Chibi Naruto comes along and shows him. He is not amused. But for a moment in time, they are friends in the purest definition.


**Disclaimer:** Any claims made in the following piece of writing regarding ownership of any such characters or trademarks in the anime/manga series of Naruto are to be ignored. Because the authoress of this story needs to be whacked over the head before deprivation induced insanity takes over.

**Summary:** Chibi Sasuke is unable to do something his family calls easy. He is frustrated. Chibi Naruto comes along and shows him. He is not amused. But for a moment in time, they are friends in the purest definition.

**Warning:** This is a short, pointless, fluff childhood fic; I cannot be blamed if it is presented badly and your mind needs scrubbing. Oh, and yes, this is written in the present tense.

**Dedication:** To Seito as thanks for helping with my English project. And proof that my mind has been taken over by her as when she ended our AIM conversation with "now go and write a story", inspiration struck and bugged me to death.

Now. MARCH ON!

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**_Tsutaeru to Kangamiru_** --- QianYun 

(To Teach and To Learn)

It's as easy as one, two, three. That's what they all tell him. It isn't true, as he soon finds out. So Sasuke decides that they all lied to him; for what reason they lied, he does not know. But it is the only explanation available. Sasuke refuses to believe it is just his own incompetency. That is the same as admitting defeat and Uchiha Sasuke has never done that in all five-and-a-half years of his life.

Unfortunately, Sasuke still doesn't understand why it didn't work. There is simply no logic to it!

And then a gloomy looking blond approaches him with a curious look on his face. Sasuke doesn't really understand why he does what he does, but quite frankly, in the end, it didn't matter to him. Not much anyway.

At first, the blond boy just sits there, staring at Sasuke as he fumbles with the item in his hand. Shift, turn, bend, clench. The blond is absolutely fascinated by the Uchiha's actions, but perhaps he is more fascinated by the lack of rejection from the other child. There are long moments filled with frustration before Sasuke tosses the object up and away and falls back onto the ground, completely exasperated and exhausted in the way only a child can be.

When he no longer moves, merely staring up at the cloudy blue sky, the blond inches closer and closer to the abandoned item before he finally picks it up. He glances at the lying boy with apprehension, but with no other reaction from Sasuke except a blink at the skies, he looks down at his hands.

A turn there, a tuck here. A small rip there and a fold elsewhere. Within minutes, the blond stares triumphantly at what he holds. Hesitantly, a smile blooms across his face, lighting up the tanned skin and remarkable blue eyes.

A sniff comes out of nowhere, but still quite obviously from Sasuke. Startled, the blond quickly turns his head towards the brunet, fingers automatically curling to protect his possession. Of course, moments later, he realizes that it isn't really his and he really shouldn't still be there. But an inspection of Sasuke's face shows that while there is a hint of disdain, his expression carries more disappointment than anything else.

With a slight smile – a very small one, mind you, barely noticeable in fact – the blond carefully reaches over and tugs at Sasuke's sleeve. When Sasuke continues to ignore him, he tugs harder until the boy rips his shirt out of his grasp, rolling to the side as he does so. Disconcerted by his attitude, but not discouraged, the smaller blond boy begins to speak in a soft voice; a voice that only seems to be that way due to lack of use.

"C'mon, don't you want to know how I did it?"

Although Sasuke has turned away from the other boy, it is obvious that a frown has appeared on the Uchiha's face. Shoulders tense and back straight, there is an attempt to act disinterested, but it is futile. His twitching fingers betray his other actions.

Despite the lack of a positive response from Sasuke, the blond brightens, a smile reappearing before he scrambles to sit in front of him. Settling down, he is pleased to note that Sasuke does not move an inch. Specifically, he does not move away from the blond. Said blond scoots closer to Sasuke before finally stopping with barely half a foot of space between them. Sasuke watches the blond with wary eyes, but he does not recoil from his presence. He smiles once again and watches as Sasuke relaxes. There is a certain delight in being able to do this.

With little hesitation, the blond takes an item from Sasuke's pocket, pausing only when he sits up for a better position. Realizing that Sasuke would do nothing after that, the blond slowly and meticulously goes through the motions he had gone through only moments before.

The process is simple and takes only a few minutes, minutes in which Sasuke's face dons an enlightened expression. Excitement comes over both boys when Sasuke tentatively works on his own object.

Soon after, an awkward crane origami is thrust in front of Naruto and when a smile is the only response, a similar smile appears on Sasuke's face.

He is gleeful in a way that he has never been. It's different when he is taught by a stranger his own age. He feels more proud for some reason. Not a thought about his family arose in his mind as he continued to grin at the blond. It is a different type of happiness that he feels and he decides he likes it.

So for the next few hours, he spends his time with a complete stranger, learning to make all the different types of origami he had spent the past few days trying to create.

For the next few hours, he fumbles with his paper until the blond can somehow understand his movements and create exactly what he had been trying to make.

For the next few hours, they laugh with each other and share their joy.

For the next few hours, they are two kids learning from each other.

As the sun sets, and the light fades, Sasuke's laughter starts to slow and soon stops. It's time for him to go home and show his family members that yes, he can finally make the origami animals he had been taught. Time for him to go home and smile with pride. All because of the little blond boy he had just met.

Suddenly, his initial failure doesn't seem as important when the boy smiles at him with that wide, toothy grin; his eyes squinting in happiness.

From the far off distance, he can hear his mother calling. It must be late if she ventures out from the Uchiha compound when it is dark. A frown crosses Sasuke's face as he stands up and the blond's eyes follow him with confusion.

"I have to go home now."

Immediately, the blond's face droops and his head ducks to cover his eyes. Sasuke is uncertain; he had never upset another child before.

"Maybe I can see you tomorrow. My name is Uchiha Sasuke, what's yours?"

Bright blue eyes quickly looks up and a tentative smile appears, "Uzumaki Naruto." He pauses with apprehension, "You promise?"

"Prom-" But before he can agree, he is cut off by his mother's footsteps.

"Sasuke! Do you know time it is? I've been so worried." Then his mother notices the blond and much to his curiosity, her brow creases in worry. The boy named Naruto notices this and frowns to himself before getting up and backing away, slowly, slowly, like an animal in the face of a predator.

A motherly instinct comes over her and she smiles softly, "You can play with your new friend later, okay? We have to get home."

A look of wonder crosses Naruto's face and a wide smile is brought out.

"Okay, 'kaa-san. I'll see you around." A wave, a quick flash of a smile and the two are gone from Naruto's sight.

He begins to giggle with absolute delight and skips all the way to Iruka-sensei's house. He can't wait to tell him about his new friend with the nicest mother ever.

Owari/The End

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**QY:** I stopped writing for some reason a little more than halfway, so I don't remember exactly what it was I planned. I hope it still turned out okay. So after this, it's easy to say that they didn't get to talk with each other, having only chance meetings. It's a random little scene anyway, not to be taken seriously. Inspiration struck and now that it's written out, it's time to let it lie as it is. And yes, I deliberately made it so that Sasuke didn't get to promise Naruto.

I hope you guys enjoyed this. I had fun writing it.

And a thank you to Itoshii-chan for beta-ing. She managed to catch my little mistakes.

Written: 6/15/05 – 7/04/05


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